Goya's Prints

Goya has frequently been called the “first modern artist”, and the justification for this can be seen above all in his prints. The four great series, the Caprichos, the Disasters of War, the Tauromaquia and the Proverbios, span the final years of the eighteenth century and the first decades of the nineteenth, and provide a wry, bitter or occasionally violent commentary on human affairs. The brilliance of Goya` s inventions has long been appreciated, while their full meanings are only gradually being unravelled. This book, reissued to commemorate the 250th anniversary of his birth, offers a succinct introduction to Goya` s work in this medium.